Call for fairer pricing

IFA National Livestock Committee chairman John Bryan says factories should pay at least 17c/kg (6p/lb) more for R grades than O grades, and an extra 17c/kg (6p/lb) premium for U grades - nearly three times more than they offer, currently.

“Quality beef production from the suckler cow herd will not survive under this type of penal price structure,” says the cattle farmers’ spokesman.

He says the price structure has not changed since the early 1990s, when 90% of steer beef was going into intervention or to low-priced international markets. Mr Bryan says it is time for the processing industry to reflect the premium prices being paid for quality production across the continental EU markets.